UF was part of Nobel-winning discovery

Kevin Ingersen, left, chair of the department of physics, and Guenakh Mitselmakher, center, CMS group leader, present David Norton, vice president of research at UF, with a CMS team shirt during a celebration for the UF researchers who were part of the Higgs-Boson particle team that won the Nobel Prize Tuesday Oct. 8, 2013 in Gainesville, Fla.

Published: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 12:06 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 12:06 p.m.

Physicists at the University of Florida joined thousands of scientists around the world in cheering the news Tuesday that the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, who first theorized about the existence of the so-called "God Particle."

Higgs and Englert simultaneously came up with similar theories about how subatomic particles — the building blocks of the universe — clump together and acquire mass, a kind of blueprint for the mechanics of how the universe came into existence.

"We are looking at the beginning of the universe," said Pierre Ramond, a distinguished professor of physics at UF.

The Higgs theory is a "central part of the Standard Model of particle physics that describes how the world is constructed," The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

That model rests entirely on the existence of the Higgs particle.

"Without it, we would not exist, because it is from contact with the field that particles acquire mass," The Royal Academy said. "The theory proposed by Englert and Higgs describes this process."

In a statement issued by the University of Edinburgh, where he retired as a professor, the famously shy, 84-year-old Higgs said he hoped the prize would help people recognize "the value of blue-sky research."

Englert, 80, said the award points to the importance of scientific freedom and the need for scientists to be allowed to do fundamental research that doesn't have immediate practical applications.

"You don't work thinking to get the Nobel Prize," said Englert, a retired professor at the Free University of Brussels. Still, "we had the impression that we were doing something that was important, that would later on be used by other researchers."

Discovering the elusive Higgs particle took nearly 50 years, the construction of the largest super-collider in the world, and the collaborative efforts of 3,000 international scientists, including 2,000 from U.S. institutions including UF and 88 other universities.

Scientists discovered the Higgs particle last July as a result of experiments at the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider built by CERN underneath the border of France and Switzerland.

Among those who were key to that discovery was a group of about 40 physicists, researchers, engineers and graduate students at the UF High Energy Experimental Group, led by Guenakh Mitselmakher, a distinguished professor in nuclear physics and astrophysics.

While the experiments at CERN involved over 2,000 scientists and 88 universities from the United States, the UF High Energy Experimental Group was among 700 researchers directly involved in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiments that ultimately led to the detection of the Higgs particle, said Kevin Ingersent, chairman of the UF Physics Department.

"Lots of places around the country are happy today," Ingersent said.

Since 1995, Mitselmakher and UF colleagues Andrey Korytov and Darin Acosta led an international team that designed and built one-fifth of the detectors used by the CMS, Mitselmakher said. The detectors were built and tested in the basement of the New Physics Building before being transported to CERN.

UF graduate students helped analyze the data that led to the identification of the Higgs particle, Mitselmakher said. They sifted through tons of data to find the signature, "that significant thing that you are trying to find," he said.

Higgs and Englert theorized that the Higgs decayed into four muons, the "golden channel" as scientists at CERN had called it.

"Our detectors were able to capture and measure the four muons and confirm the Higgs was there," Mitselmakher said, adding that 100 years from now, people will remember this more than they will remember the score of last weekend's UF-Arkansas game.

Ramond said the Higgs particle showed how the pieces of the universe that seemed disconnected were actually connected. "As we develop a picture of the universe, it is getting simpler," he said.

David Norton, vice president for research at UF, said prior to Higgs and Englert there was no explanation why anything has mass. "This answers that question," Norton said, and UF was part of that discovery.

He also said it demonstrated the importance of fundamental basic research at UF, which can take years to explore and uncover fundamental truths about the universe.

<p>Physicists at the University of Florida joined thousands of scientists around the world in cheering the news Tuesday that the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, who first theorized about the existence of the so-called "God Particle."</p><p>Higgs and Englert simultaneously came up with similar theories about how subatomic particles — the building blocks of the universe — clump together and acquire mass, a kind of blueprint for the mechanics of how the universe came into existence.</p><p>"We are looking at the beginning of the universe," said Pierre Ramond, a distinguished professor of physics at UF.</p><p>The Higgs theory is a "central part of the Standard Model of particle physics that describes how the world is constructed," The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.</p><p>That model rests entirely on the existence of the Higgs particle.</p><p>"Without it, we would not exist, because it is from contact with the field that particles acquire mass," The Royal Academy said. "The theory proposed by Englert and Higgs describes this process."</p><p>In a statement issued by the University of Edinburgh, where he retired as a professor, the famously shy, 84-year-old Higgs said he hoped the prize would help people recognize "the value of blue-sky research."</p><p>Englert, 80, said the award points to the importance of scientific freedom and the need for scientists to be allowed to do fundamental research that doesn't have immediate practical applications.</p><p>"You don't work thinking to get the Nobel Prize," said Englert, a retired professor at the Free University of Brussels. Still, "we had the impression that we were doing something that was important, that would later on be used by other researchers."</p><p>Discovering the elusive Higgs particle took nearly 50 years, the construction of the largest super-collider in the world, and the collaborative efforts of 3,000 international scientists, including 2,000 from U.S. institutions including UF and 88 other universities.</p><p>Scientists discovered the Higgs particle last July as a result of experiments at the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider built by CERN underneath the border of France and Switzerland.</p><p>Among those who were key to that discovery was a group of about 40 physicists, researchers, engineers and graduate students at the UF High Energy Experimental Group, led by Guenakh Mitselmakher, a distinguished professor in nuclear physics and astrophysics.</p><p>While the experiments at CERN involved over 2,000 scientists and 88 universities from the United States, the UF High Energy Experimental Group was among 700 researchers directly involved in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiments that ultimately led to the detection of the Higgs particle, said Kevin Ingersent, chairman of the UF Physics Department.</p><p>"Lots of places around the country are happy today," Ingersent said.</p><p>Since 1995, Mitselmakher and UF colleagues Andrey Korytov and Darin Acosta led an international team that designed and built one-fifth of the detectors used by the CMS, Mitselmakher said. The detectors were built and tested in the basement of the New Physics Building before being transported to CERN.</p><p>Also credited with helping are UF professors Paul Avery, Richard Field, Ivan Furic, Jacobo Konigsberg, Konstantin Matchev and John Yelton.</p><p>UF graduate students helped analyze the data that led to the identification of the Higgs particle, Mitselmakher said. They sifted through tons of data to find the signature, "that significant thing that you are trying to find," he said.</p><p>Higgs and Englert theorized that the Higgs decayed into four muons, the "golden channel" as scientists at CERN had called it.</p><p>"Our detectors were able to capture and measure the four muons and confirm the Higgs was there," Mitselmakher said, adding that 100 years from now, people will remember this more than they will remember the score of last weekend's UF-Arkansas game.</p><p>Ramond said the Higgs particle showed how the pieces of the universe that seemed disconnected were actually connected. "As we develop a picture of the universe, it is getting simpler," he said.</p><p>David Norton, vice president for research at UF, said prior to Higgs and Englert there was no explanation why anything has mass. "This answers that question," Norton said, and UF was part of that discovery.</p><p>He also said it demonstrated the importance of fundamental basic research at UF, which can take years to explore and uncover fundamental truths about the universe.</p><p>"That's what research at the University of Florida is all about."</p><p>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</p>